Alexander McQueen's Friends inspiration

Alexander McQueen used to get his fashion inspiration from TV show 'Friends', according to Sarah Burton.

Nov 03, 2011

Alexander McQueen used to get his fashion inspiration from TV show 'Friends', according to Sarah Burton.

(BANG)

Alexander McQueen got his fashion inspiration from TV show 'Friends'.

The tragic designer - who committed suicide in February 2010 - relied on a host of sources to get ideas for his eponymous fashion line and the now defunct comedy show was just one, according to his successor Sarah Burton.

She said: "I remember him saying to me, 'I watched 'Friends' last night, did you see the shirt that Joey was wearing?'

"But then, he would get a [Jan] van Eyckbook out, so it was this kind of mad mix. There's no snobbery to it. He had this way of making you look at everything for inspiration so you didn't just go, 'Ok, we're doing Seventies.'"

Although Alexander - known as Lee to his friends - is no longer with them, Sarah revealed the company still runs as if he were alive.

She explained to website lanecrawford.com: "Lee used to always say that you have to know all the rules to be able to break them.

"We have an open studio, so a big room, and it's very visual. On the wall, there are just hundreds of images from all different kinds of periods and fabrics. Lee taught me to do things in a three-dimensional way."